Lessons for a Wise World: Science

This workshop offered three lesson plans for teachers of Junior Cycle Science. Both informative and interactive, it outlined activities for the classroom which both achieve curricular learning outcomes and link to global justice issues. It included participatory exercises and time for discussion and questions. Themes include the human impact of biodiversity loss; indigenous peoples’ expertise in preserving knowledge, and the benefits and challenges of hydroelectric power using case studies from the Global South.

 

Workshop Resources

WWGS 3 lesson plans for Junior Cycle Science:

1. Pros and Cons of Hydroelectric power
2. Learning from a Double Disease
3. Planting Health

WWGS Teacher Handbook and Activities Guide

Other resources

Pros and Cons of Hydroelectric Power

Articles

• Article on the pros and cons of hydroelectric power from Earth.org, a non-profit, independent environmental newsroom that reports on climate change and biodiversity loss using data journalism.
• For more on the Pak Beng Dam see the article in the Bangkok Tribune on concerns around flooding (Oct 2024).

Planting Health

Articles

• 10 ways to protect biodiversity from the National Biodiversity Data Centre
• Ten landmark case studies on biodiversity conservation from around the world from ClientEarth, an international environmental law non-profit organisation that uses the law to drive systemic change and protect the planet.

Podcast

•  Indigenous peoples’ leadership, and
• Guardianship of the Amazon

By Outrage and optimism: climate podcast from COP, 30 esp episodes.

 

Video

• Producing food sustainably to help restore biodiversity Video (3 min 40) by Sustainable Urban Delta Foundation, a non-profit organisation that promotes urban sustainability through local food production.

Learning from a Double Disease (Strand 5 LO 6)

Videos

• Study summary and video (2 min 15) suggesting that lifestyle and environmental factors affect human health more than genes (Strand 5 LO 6) from Oxford University’s Oxford Population Health
• How microbes affect human health Video (4 min) from Science Animated